The Women’s Euro’s 2022 was just crazzy!

 Top matches, great players on display, nothing but pure vibes and memories to last a lifetime!

  I always love to review the games, my thoughts, the feeling I have at the time & the vibe in the ground in the moment.

 What can I take away from this, or that, what lessons are being put on display right now?

So, here are my five lessons that I think you should know about, in hope you can transfer this to your life and apply/ get behind.

It’s Not About How Long It’s What You’ve Done With The Time You Had!

  All hail Sarina Wiegman!

Hahaha, in a short amount of time Sarina has been able to bring togetherness, belief, harmony, rhythm, consistency, patience, grit and smart/hard work to the England lionesses team, who had never won a Euro before her arrival on the 1st of September 2021.

So, in just under a year, she took England all the way to the top of the Euro’s, yes she did win this before but that was her own country Holland, which was a great feet…

However, to do this again with a country that you are not from, to not lose a single game, and to at times cruise through matches, this is greatness and Sarina is world-class!

So in life stop being so fixated on time, would it have been more ideal to have 4 years prep?

Of course, but sometimes this is not how life goes, and what could take a lifetime for another, can be done in a matter of months for another.

Take the Sweed Martin Sjögren for example, he was in charge of Norway team since 2016, when they faced England pffft!

Norway got cooked, and that’s putting it nicely… He had to pack his bags and go, his team let in 8 goals, and no reply.

I don’t know what was going behind the scenes, but the length of time meant ZERO when the lionesses prowled & Pounced!

Football Like Life Changes Quick Don’t Quit Too Soon!

Things in football change very fast, you could be on a high, then drop just as fast. I want to talk about two players, and the first is Alexandra Popp.

Prior to these Women’s euro’s, Alexandra had to miss out on two Euro’s due to injuries in the year 2013 & 2017.

2022 she was at last injury free, and made the squad, she was prolific every time she played scoring in three consecutive group games, which was a record, as she was the first to do so in the Euro’s.

She is also one of two players that have scored in four successive games, the other being England ace Beath Mead.

My point being for Popp is that many had written her off, not even expecting that she would make it, as she normally gets hurt around this time, right?

She proved her doubters wrong and showed up for her country, Germany, and could not stop scoring. However, what must have been such heartache for her though, was that in the final when warming up, she suffered an injury & missed the final!

To her credit, she never showed that she was sad, or moaned that I saw, feeling for sorry for herself you know ?

Even at the end of the game, when Popp could only watch on as England beat Germany in extra time, she was cool and calm, and that really stood out for me.

The second player I wanted to talk about is Sakina Karchaoui, who plays for France.

I’m going to explain her back-story, so it makes sense, ok…

Bear with me!

Karchaoui was not always a first team starter for France, she has been in the team since 2016, but was on the bench a lot of the time.

For example ,the Olympics in Brazil 2016,she was on the bench, and only played once.

Or the world cup in 2019, where she only played once, and it was off the bench for 2 mins.

To be fair to her, she was only 20 in 2016, but she was 23 years old in 2019, I just did not think she was up too much back then.

Things did not really work out for her at Lyon either in that same year, and just after that, however I started to notice, she was showing flashes of what she could do, but needed to take a step down.

That’s exactly what she did in 2021 when she signed for PSG, even though I don’t expect her to agree with me on that!

Anyway her growth since then, I kid you not, for me the most improved player in the game right now.

It’s not that she was rubbish before, it’s just the jigsaw had missing pieces, now she is more of a completed puzzle than ever before, she had a great time at PSG the season just gone…

I would say that on review, her last three years of growth have been out of this world, I’ve noticed her confidence has gone up as well, and is one of the leaders at PSG and France & it’s always nice to see someone improve so much like this.

So coming into this Euro’s, I had my eye on her & boy she did not disappoint!

Running at defenders, and tracking back, making key tackles, pinpoint crosses high & Low, showing great leadership, was France’s best player for many of the games & was the best left back in the whole comp, in my eyes.

Both of these ladies could have quit on themselves, they kept going despite the setbacks, hurt, pain and their own mountains they had to climb, to get them to where they are now, at this level…

Don’t quit too soon on yourself, keep going & enjoy the process of getting to your desired goals.

Despite Friction You Can Still Recover

Sticking with the French National team, the build up to this whole Euro’s was, can this talented French squad win a Euro, I feel that many are viewing them as a waste of space, as they normally don’t win when it counts.

In my mind I just feel that a lot are still, salty at the fact that in 2019, the United States women’s team did a number on them!

There was a lot of talk about France, in my mind (In 2019) I always thought, they are good, but that United States team is the number one…

You are off your rocker if you’re not putting them first, that team are serial winners, and even now their team is not as strong as it once was, as some of their senior players are no longer playing, or not as good any more/ Bedding in younger players now, they are still a great side.

For me In this Euro’s, before it started I felt like France was a very dangerous team & could go all the way, they were the team I thought would give England the hardest test.

As good as France was at the Euro’s, I was left with the feeling like, they’re not at their best here.

They played very well, but that little bit extra I’m used to seeing from them as a collective group was not there, I saw a lot of solo efforts, and players that did well in their own right, but as an overall team, they can improve a lot.

Now, rumor has it that there were or is friction in this French squad, this is another reason nobody thought they would do well, a major incident last summer, which had an affair, physical attacks, lies, arguments in them, this summer not having certain players & the players wanting those players in, and the coach not wanting them & then the players not liking the coach to begin with, as she does this and that…

It’s sounds really bad, and it’s a mess, honestly. Yet, they recovered.

I don’t know what went on behind the scenes, but they put all of that to one side, and had a really good run, I think it did cost them at least the final this friction, and I think it’s between the players and the coach, but they did very well, despite the friction leading up this Euro’s & It was a pleasure to watch them play.

So for real life, just make the best of what you can, if for some reason you are tested to be with someone you don’t like, it may not come with a prize of a women’s Euro trophy…

However, you could gain a lot more mentally, and show you are stronger than you ever thought, so long as they are not toxic ey!

It’s Here To Stay

Women’s football is here to stay, and I could not be more happy about that.

Why?

Well, it’s more outlets to see more games, a chance to see great players playing football and doing what they love, young girls can at last look up to more than a handful of women footballers, or opt for looking up to a man, as she has never even seen women play football before.

It’s all good for me, I was watching before it was trendy to do so, or as some bigots would say forced upon the screen LOL!

There is an audience for it, and millions watch across the world and thousands come to watch, when allowed to play at a bigger ground.

Is there more work to be done? Of course, the aim should be at club level, getting these numbers every week, and that starts by actually playing at a big ground…

Not just where the men train on a weekday.

More adverts, and light shone upon leagues like the WSL, they have done well but more across the world is needed.

They were given the chance, and once again in yet another comp, the women have smashed it!!!

I, for one, am loving every single minute of it.

You Must Allow Girls To Start Playing Football In School/ Have All Girls Teams In & Out Of School Too

 Ian Wright had it spot on with what he said!

For me, though, I see it like this…

Football is not for boys, and it’s not for girls, It’s for footballers!

It’s not hard to grasp, the argument seems to be that, women are not into football as much, now I’m not saying that’s not true, I think we can all agree on that no?

However, there are a number of girls who do want to play, or want to test the waters to see if this is for them, and was stopped, and that’s wrong, just because of your gender.

Is it little wonder that a lot of women prefer other things to do, when they had whole bans on women playing & a lot of men did not make them feel welcome at all ?

How sad that the best sport in the world, that is so enjoyable to watch or play, had men in charge that made others feel excluded because of gender, it’s not the first time either is it ?

This is just the spin-off to race & sexuality, let’s be real here.

All schools should have women playing football, then it becomes the norm for the younger generation, it’s the same with the all-girls football teams too.

The sooner we start, the quicker the whole of football grows, what has been the missing piece for football as a whole, is without doubt the women’s touch, I’ve gone many seasons more excited to watch my team Barça, women play then the men’s!

This is a prime example, I mean the men were far from the best, but those ladies put on a show and are a pure class in their own right.

Now picture having this type of level for every club in world football, for me that is a dream that can become a reality, as I said football can only grow from doing so, and take this beautiful game to the next level.

 THAT’S IT!

 Please Let Me Know Your Fav Moments From The Euro’s & What You Made

Of What I  Had To Say!

Until We Meet Again, Ciao

  We Look Up 大

Karim David 

The Healthy One